Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Labor government has broken yet another election promise in the budget, this time on changes to franking credit policy. Before the election, both the Prime Minister and the Treasurer ruled out explicitly any changes to franking credits. On 2 January 2021, in a speech the Prime Minister said:

… we will not be taking any changes to franking credits to the next election ...

On 17 January this year, the Treasurer said, 'We won't be doing franking credits; I couldn't be clearer than that.' But in the budget, there it is: a new tax on franking credits. An unannounced $550 million tax grab on retirees and Australian investors right there in Budget Paper No. 2. This is something never promised at the election and something never consulted or floated with industry.

Now, when asked in Senate estimates this week, the finance minister didn't even seem to be across the policy. She didn't seem to realise that a change to the franking credit policy was in the budget. In fact, the minister had to come back to correct the record. When she was asked the following day to explain the changes she was unable to do so.

It's clear that the government has decided to pursue its 2019 tax increases incrementally. With Labor, the destination is always the same: higher taxes—sapping aspiration, ruining confidence and dragging down the productive capacity of the economy.